When playing a hole of golf, there are two distinct playing surfaces encountered. The first playing surface is a fairway which starts at the tee and extends to the golf green. Typically, the fairway will range in length from eighty to five hundred yards. While on the fairway, the golfer will hit the golf ball with a pre-selected wood or iron that will propel the ball onto the golf green. It is important for the golfer to stay on the fairway to avoid such hazards as sand, water, or high grass, commonly referred to as the rough. Hitting the ball into these hazard areas will greatly increase the number of strokes required to get the ball from the tee to the green. Of course, it is well known that the object in playing a hole of golf is to hit the golf ball into the hole with a minimal number of strokes. Thus, it is very important for the playing surfaces to be well maintained. Otherwise, the golf ball may be inadvertently diverted from its intended course.
The second distinct playing surface is a putting green, which is at the end of the fairway. Typically, golf greens have an irregular shape and with a putting surface which is generally flat, but can be made more challenging by incorporating hills or slopes thereon. It is imperative that there be no weeds or dead spots on the green to divert the path of a putted ball, for golfers become very upset if their ball is diverted by such an obstruction.
To obtain a smooth putting surface, golf greens are constructed using a base level of rock and gravel, an intermediate level comprising sand and dirt, and a final layer of very short tight grass. It is important for the grass surface to receive plenty of water and be well drained. Furthermore, it is important for the greens to be aerated so as to provide oxygen to the roots of the grass. To this end, it is known to aerate golf greens with spiked rollers that will pull small dirt plugs out of the putting surface. The aeration holes have several functions in addition to providing oxygen to the roots of the grass. These aeration holes provide a facile means for exposing weed killer and fertilizer to the grass of the putting surface, and for providing proper water drainage. Unfortunately, these aeration holes tend to collapse under the weight of the golfer's feet and by the impact of golf balls landing on the green. As a result, collapsing of the aeration holes creates an uneven putting surface.
To prevent the collapse of the aeration holes, it is well known to spread sand on the putting surface after the aeration has taken place. This sand is then brushed, swept, or otherwise worked into the holes thus filling the holes up and giving structural support to the surrounding surface. Furthermore, the sand still allows proper drainage and the application of weed killer and fertilizers to the putting surface.
However, spreading and distributing sand onto the putting surface is known to be a time consuming and labor intensive process. Typically, the sand is manually brushed into the aeration holes by use of a broom and/or blade so as to push the sand into the holes. Besides being labor intensive, the holes may be unevenly filled or not completely filled with sand so as to still allow collapsing thereabout.
It is clear that there is a need in the art for a device to evenly distribute and spread sand into an aerated golf green. There is also a need in the art for a machine to distribute and spread sand over a putting surface regardless of whether the sand is wet or dry. There is a further need for a machine to distribute and spread sand over a putting surface which is easy to maintain. Furthermore, there is a need to provide such a sand distributor and spreader that is easily transportable between putting surfaces.